Fluid-clutch.



240.. 660,749. Patented Oct. 30. I900. P. CUNNINGHAM.

FLUID CLUTCH.

MW (Application filed Mar. 10, 1900.)

(No Nodei.) 3 Sheets-Sheet l.

Fig.1

WITNEESEE- INVENTEIR- No. 660,749. Patented Oct. 30, I900. P. CUNNINGHAM.

FLUID CLUTCH.

(Applicntion fllid In. 10, 1000.)

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Shoot 3.

Fig 4- WiTNESEvEE- |NVENTUR 6% $404M. fi fif r UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PATRICK CUNNINGHAM, OF NEW BEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF THREE-FOURTHS TO FRED D. STANLEY, OF SAME PLACE, AND WILLIAM A. W'HITTLESEY', OF PITTSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

FLl JlD-CL UTCH.

srEcIFIcATIoN forming part of Letters Patent No. 660,749, dated October e0, 1900.

I Application filed March 10, 1900. Serial No, 8,139. (No model.)

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK CUNNINGHAM,

a citizen of the United States, residing in New Bedford, in the county of Bristol and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Fluid-Clutches, of which the follow ing descriptipn, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to fluid-pressure friction-clutches, and has for its object to provide a simple, efficient, and durable clutch of the class described which can be controlled in its operation by a single valve in the fluidsupply pipe. For this purpose the shaft upon which the clutch is mounted has fast on it a cylinder or easing, into which fluid is admitted through a longitudinal passage in the shaft and with which communicates the fluidsupply pipe. The cylinder or casing fast on the shaft contains within it a disk or piston movable longitudinally on the hub of the said casing and suitably keyed to said casin g. The

disk or piston cooperates with a spider carry-.

ing blocks or pieces of wood or like non-metallic material constituting wearing-surfaces,

which are frictionally engaged by the disk or piston when fluid-pressure is admitted into the cylinder or casing to thereby clutch the loose member to the shaft. The cylinder or casing is provided with a ring or washer, of rubber, leather, or other suitable material, which bears against the disk or piston and which itself is directly acted upon by fluidpressure. The cylinder or casing referred to may be provided with two pistons or disks movable in opposite directions and cooperating with the loose member of the clutch when it is desired to obtain a clutch of increased power; but for ordinary work a single disk or piston without the cylinder or casing will suflice. These and other features of this invention will be pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification;

Figure 1 represents in sectional elevation one form of clutch embodying this invention; Fig. 2, an elevation with parts broken away of a single clutch embodying the invention; Fig. 3, a sectional detail of the clutch shown in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4: a detail to be referred to.

pipe 8.

sion of the longitudinal passagejin the shaft a, the latter passage being enlarged at the outer end of the shaft to receive the stationary supply-pipe m, which, as shown in the drawings, is surrounded by packing material -I'L,-- secured in place-by the washero and nuts 19. The supply-pipe m is provided with a three-way valve 7", of any suitable or usual construction,which controls the admission of fluid into the chamber g and the discharge of the fluid from the chamber 9 into the waste- The cylinderor casing formed by the hub cl and rim 6 has keyed to it disks, rings,

or pistons 2 3, which cooperate, as shown in Fig. 1, with annular rings or spiders4 5, carrying blocks or pieces of wood6 7, which are adapted to be forced by movement of the pistons 2 3, under the influence of the fluidpressure, away from each other and into engagement with the side pieces 8 9 of a pulley 10, the side pieces 8 9 being loose on the shaft 0, and, as shown, being detachably secured, as by bolts 12, to the web 13 of the pulley 10. The pulley l0 and its attached side pieces 8 9 constitute the loose member of the clutch, and the said side pieces are provided with hubs 40, which extend into and are supported by bearings 41, only one of which is herein shown. i

The pistons or disks 2 3 have cooperating with them rubber, leather, or other non-metallic Washers or rings l4 15, which prevent leakage of the Water out of the chamber g clutched to the fast member or casing keyed to the shaft a by admitting fluid under pressure through the passagesj t' in the shaft a and throughthe passage h in the hub (1 into i the chamber g, which is filled with fluid, and

the latter acting on the washers or rings 14 15 moves the same and the pistons or disks 2 3 away from each other and into frictional engagement with the wooden blocks 6 7, which are themselves forced firmly against the sides 8 9 of the loose member or pulley 10, thereby clutching the loose member to the shaft a. When the valve ris turned so as to shut off the water supply and connect the chamber 9 with the waste-pipe s, the pressure is relieved from the loose member of the clutch, and the said member is thus unclutched from the shaft a.

In Figs. 2 and 3 I have shown the invention as embodied in a clutch in which the wooden blocks .6 are carried by a spider attached to the loose member, which is shown as a sleeve or hub 20, loose on the shaft or, and to which is keyed or otherwise fastened the pulley 21. (Shown in Fig. 2.) In the construction shown in' Fig. 3 a single piston 2 is shown, with which cooperates the rubber washer or ring 14, reinforced by a metal ring 23, and which cooperates with one side of the cylinder to form the chamber 24, into which the water is admitted from the passage j in the shaft a. The cylinder or casing, as shown in Fig. 3, comprises a hub d, a plate or web 25, from which extends an annular rim 26, to

which is fastened by screws 50 or in other tions30, which project into axially-extended slots or grooves 31 in the rim or periphery 26, so as to key the piston or disk 2 to the cylinder or casing. The radial lugs 30 may be secured to the ring or disk by pins 32,- driven 1 into the piston 2 through suitable openings 33 in the rim 26 of the cylinder or casing.

The operation of the clutch shown in Fig. 3 is the same as that shown in Fig. 1, the

piston or ring 2 being forced against the wearing-blocks 6, so as to clutch the same between it and the side plate 27 of the casing when fluid-pressure is admitted into the cylinder 24 to thereby render the loose membernamely, the hub 20 and its attached pulley 21-fast on the shaft a. In both the construc tions shown in Figs. 1 and 3 it will be no ticed that the clutch is long-lived by reason of the fact that it may be used until the wearing-surfaces 6 and the piston or disk 2 are.

worn thin.

In Fig. 1 the loose member is shown as a. pulley; but it may be any other body or struci ture, and in practice it may be the armature of a dynamo or generator, in which case it is desirable to relieve the shaft from the weight of the armature, and for this purpose the side plates 8 9 are provided with the hubs 40, supported by the bearings 41, so that the weight I of the armature falls on the bearings 41 rather than on the shaft. when the generator is not in use the shaft a is running light and is relieved from the weight of the armature.

I claim 1. In a clutch of the class described, the combination with a rotatable shaft provided with a fluid-inlet passage extended longitudinally and radially thereof, of a cylinder or casing fast on the said shaft, a disk or piston within said casing and keyed thereto to move bodily within the same and forming therewith a fluid-receiving chamber, a cooperating member normally loose on the said shaft and adapted to be rendered fast thereon by movement of the piston or disk in one direction, a supply-pipe communicating with the longitudinal passage in the rotatable shaft and provided with a valve controlling the admission of fluid into the said cylinder or casing, substantially as described.

2. In a clutch of the class described, the combination with a rotatable shaft provided with a fluid-passage extended longitudinally and radially thereof, of a cylinder or casing fast on the said shaft and provided with a slot or groove in its rim extended for a portion of the length of the same on the inner side thereof, a piston or disk within said cas- It will thus be seen that ing provided with a lug or projection extended into said slot or groove, a clutch member normally loose on said shaft, a spider carrying non-metallic wearing-surfaces with which said piston cooperates to render the loose member fast on said shaft, a fluid-supply pipe communicating with the longitudinal passage in the rotatable shaft, and a valve in said supply-pipe, substantially as described.

3. In a clutch of the class described, the combination with a rotatable shaft provided with a fluid-passage extended longitudinally and radially thereof, of a cylinder or casing fast on said shaft and provided with a hub and a rim connect-ed to said hub, a piston or with a fluid-passage extended longitudinally and radially thereof, a cylinder or casing comprising a hub keyed on said shaft and a rim connected with said hub and keyed to said casing, one or more disks or pistons movable on said hub, a washer of non-metallic material bearing against said piston and the rim of said casing to form a liquid-chamberwithin said casing, a loose member cooperating with loo said piston, a supplypipe communicating with the passage in said shaft and with said liquid-chamber, and a valve in said supplypipe, substantially as described.

5. In a clutch of the class described, the combination with a rotatable shaft, a cylinder or casing fast on it, a normally loose member provided with a hub extended into and supported by a bearing, the said bearing, a disk or piston within said cylinder or casing and keyed thereto and cooperating with saidnormally loose member, and means to control the supply of fluid into said cylinder or casing, substantially as described.

6. In a clutch of the class described, the

combination with a rotatable shaft, a cylinder or casing.fast on it, a clutch member normally loose on said shaft, a disk or piston within said casing and keyed to the inner side of its rim to move longitudinally thereof and engage said normally loose member, a fluid-supply extended longitudinally andradially of said shaft and communicating with the said cylinder or casing, and means to control the supply of fluid into said cylinder 01 casing, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

PATRICK CUNNINGHAM. 

